


The Girl on the Beach

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 15:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14358261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Louisa helps out Thalia with auditions for the Canter Ella movie, and ends up being unexpectedly hit on.





	1. Chapter 1

Puzzle was still grumbling about being overlooked when Louisa rode down onto the Fort Pinta beach. Louisa sighed, patting his neck.

“Don’t worry, you can still be Tintoretto at the next comic con,” said Louisa. “And maybe at Halloween too.” Puzzle huffed.

“But I would’ve made the perfect Tintoretto!” said Puzzle. “If only I was a pure black horse.”

“Yeah, well, we can’t all get what we want,” said Louisa. “Now shh for a minute, I need to talk to these tourists.”

The tourists all directed her further up the beach, towards Pony Point. Puzzle continued to whine away, but Louisa tuned him out. She’d gotten surprisingly good at that over the years that she’d been on Jorvik.

“Oh,” said Louisa softly when she finally saw the girl that everyone had been talking about or cooing over. She was a brown-skinned girl, riding on the back of a horse that Louisa had glimpsed up at the winery standing in Smokeeye’s old stall. Only this one was not bay or white (or light grey, as the horse snobs would yell at her if they could hear her thoughts). It was a glorious black horse, though not one that Louisa would have picked to play Tintoretto in a movie. Maybe his mane and tail could be crimped or curled or something, but personally, she would have chosen a Friesian for the role. But what did she know about casting?

“Ola,” said the girl when she slowed her horse to a gentle stop in front of Louisa and Puzzle. Puzzle pinned his ears, turning his head away from the other horse.

“Hi,” said Louisa, finding her tongue. Never mind the horse, this girl was gorgeous. Very exotic, the kind of girl that would surely be the love interest in any show or book. “You must be the girl on the beach that everyone has been talking about.” The girl grinned.

“Yes, I’ve received many declarations of love since I arrived here,” said the girl with a musical laugh. “Apparently, the people of Jorvik have never heard a foreign accent before.”

“I’m sure that a lot of them are complimenting your horse, too,” said Louisa. 

“Yes,” said the girl. “My name is Luciana, and this is my Sirio.” She petted her horse’s neck. “He is a Lusitano, though I have not seen many of his kind here on Jorvik in the short time that I have been here.”

“Yeah, they only arrived today,” said Louisa. “I haven’t seen you around here before, are you new?” Not that she would have, having fallen back into her old cycle of training and working until she dropped since… well, never mind. Luciana was distracting enough for Louisa to push those thoughts to the back of her mind where they belonged.

“Yes,” said Luciana with a smile and a nod. “I only arrived here recently, hoping to train my horse in greener pastures.”

“Jorvik is a great place to train horses,” said Louisa. “I’m currently training this one myself, his name is Puzzle.” Since Luciana hadn’t given Sirio’s Jorvik name, she decided not to give Puzzle’s. She petted her horse’s neck, telling him silently to play nice and stop thinking murderous thoughts about Sirio.

“He is quite the handsome boy,” Luciana cooed. “But alas, I do not have time to talk, I need to be at Steve’s farm. I have been working at the different farms in the area to pay my way.”

“Me too,” said Louisa. “I’ll meet you there.”

Luciana’s conversation only became more flirtatious as the two did some odd jobs around Steve’s farm, including helping Landon with a lost sheep. On the race to the riding hall after Sirio had accepted the role of Tintoretto, Louisa caught Luciana grinning at her more than once.

“Ah, it’s so rare that I get to meet people here,” said Luciana with a happy sigh once they arrived at the riding hall. “It is wonderful to have met you, Louisa.”

“You too,” said Louisa. “Though I should probably tell you that I have a girlfriend.”

“Of course you do,” said Luciana with another of her musical laughs. Louisa blushed, but was saved by Lisa, who had probably sensed that her girlfriend was being hit on by another girl.

“Is someone trying to steal my girl?” asked Lisa, riding up on Starshine. Her hair looked windswept and suddenly, Louisa forgot whatever it was that she’d seen in Luciana, instead sidling Puzzle closer to Starshine.

“Not to worry, I had no such intentions,” said Luciana, stepping away.

“Her horse stole my role and then she had the nerve to try and steal your girlfriend,” said Puzzle to Starshine, who repeated it to Lisa. Lisa laughed, Luciana looking confused.

“Sure you didn’t,” said Lisa. “But I’ll just be taking her now, if you’re done with her?”

“She might be, but I’m not,” said Thalia, flouncing over to them. Lisa smirked at the girl’s theatrics. “The great Thalia needs her assistant number three to watch this audition and see how it goes. After all, she can be our first audience.”

“Do I get free tickets to the premiere?” asked Louisa.

“Dressed like that? You can be the Canter Ella who promotes the movie,” said Thalia, striking a pose. “Or one of them.” Puzzle blew air at Thalia, who took great offense and flounced inside to watch the audition. Louisa watched with Lisa from the little outer room while Thalia showed Luciana what to do and where to go.

“She does look pretty nice,” said Lisa as she watched Luciana guide Sirio around the arena.

“She has freckles and purple eyes,” said Louisa. 

“Okay, I see your point,” said Lisa. “Good thing I already snapped you up, then, huh?” Louisa smiled at her girlfriend, leaning against her while they watched Luciana and Sirio in their audition.

“Perfect! Brava! Brava!” Thalia cheered once it was done, applauding as she walked into the arena. Sirio looked a little startled, pinning his ears as he shuffled away from the noise, and Louisa frowned.

“I wouldn’t get stage fright,” Puzzle sulked. Louisa scratched his ear.

“Did we, er, pass?” asked Luciana as Thalia finally reached the pair.

“Did you pass? Yes!” said Thalia, clapping her hands together with delight. “We have found our star. But who will play the star of the show?”

“I know a girl but she’s pretty shy,” said Louisa.

“Maybe I could style my hair a certain way?” asked Luciana.

“No wait, I’ve thought of just the person,” said Thalia, widening her eyes as she spread her hands and arms out. “We need someone with pizzazz. Athleticism. Star power. Charisma. Someone like…” She spun around, throwing her arms out. “Me!”

“If you think you’re up for it,” said Louisa.

“Well, you already have the ‘lesbian’ vibe down,” said Lisa.

“You’re not wrong,” said Luciana.

“I must at once away to the mall!” Thalia declared, and ran for her car. Luciana chuckled.

“Will you two be leaving me too?” asked Luciana. “I won’t mind if you do, Sirio needs a little rest after his big audition.”

“Maybe he should let someone else have the role,” Puzzle muttered. Louisa gently flicked the reins against his neck, and he neighed in annoyance.

“Yeah, I’m going to steal my girlfriend away for a bit,” said Lisa. “Since you’re done with her now.”

“Farewell, Louisa,” said Luciana. “it was a pleasure to meet you.”

“You too,” said Louisa, giving her a friendly smile as she left the riding hall with Lisa.

“So, where to?” asked Lisa.

“I dunno, you’re the one who’s supposed to be stealing me away,” said Louisa, grinning at her girlfriend. “Though I should probably put this one away first, he’s in a mood.”

“He stole my role!” Puzzle whinnied. Louisa snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Good idea,” said Lisa, smirking at the horse.

Feeling nostalgic, Louisa brought Smokeeye in from the pasture after putting Puzzle out there to run out his anger and whinny his disappointment to the skies. Lisa smiled at the mare, who immediately nuzzled Starshine.

“You said that you first saw Luciana riding along the beach, right?” said Lisa as they approached Fort Pinta. Louisa nodded, having told Lisa about her evening as the two had ridden out to Mistfall.

“Yeah, like a scene out of a movie,” said Louisa. “No wonder everyone was talking about her, a beautiful girl on a beautiful black stallion.”

“Hmph,” Lisa huffed. Louisa giggled.

“You sound like Puzzle,” Louisa teased. Lisa rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” said Lisa. “I can look like a glorious rider on the beach on my gorgeous stallion too.”

“Hey, when you turned up all windswept and gorgeous, I completely forgot about Luciana,” said Louisa, grinning. “Though I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to show off a little.” Lisa furrowed her brow, trying to look serious.

“I’m gonna make you forget you ever saw her,” said Lisa as she trotted Starshine down towards Pony Point. Louisa rode ahead, allowing Smokeeye to stretch her legs in a gallop.

Louisa slowed down once she reached the beach, though, riding Smokeeye at a pleasant trot along the sand. And then, she saw the girl on the white horse riding past the Thorn Rocks. She sighed happily as she watched Lisa, very much enjoying the obvious connection that horse and rider shared. She knew exactly how that felt, having the same connection with Goldmist. It had only grown stronger in the recent months. But Lisa and Starshine moved like one being, and Louisa could almost imagine that her girlfriend was a centaur. Which would make things interesting, that was for sure. But she preferred her girlfriend human, they were easier to cuddle and less likely to roll over in bed and crush her in the middle of the night. Also, Lisa was the perfect height to kiss.

“And she is gone,” said Lisa, grinning as she beheld the goofy, lovestruck expression on Louisa’s face. Smokeeye shook her head.

“She’s been gone for ages,” said Smokeeye. Lisa laughed as Starshine informed her of what his mate had said.

“Hello,” said Lisa, swooping in to steal a kiss. Louisa blinked but returned the kiss. “So, still remember Luciana?”

“Luciana who? I’ve never heard of her,” said Louisa, her heart fluttering in her chest and throat. Lisa smiled.

“That was exactly my intention,” said Lisa, tilting her girlfriend’s chin up to take another kiss.

“Did you just bring me along to get you here?” asked Smokeeye as Louisa dismounted to walk with Lisa along the beach.

“Give me a break, I’ve been in the saddle all day except for when I had to free a ewe from a bush,” said Louisa, holding Lisa’s hand. Lisa swung their arms, causing Louisa to grin from ear to ear.

“Well, that’s not my problem,” said Smokeeye with a snort.

“I see that my girlfriend is back to being a workaholic,” said Lisa, leaving her boots in the sand to feel the sand between her toes. Louisa did the same, glad that the black Silverglade jeans were already mid-calf so that she didn’t need to roll them up.

“Yeah, stuff happened,” said Louisa with a sigh. “But maybe it’s for the best.” Lisa stopped walking and pulled Louisa in to her side, squeezing her tightly.

“Maybe, maybe not,” said Lisa, looking her girlfriend in the eyes. Louisa could feel Lisa’s breath on her lips, she was so close. “All I know is that you’re upset, and I need to fix that.”

“You don’t need to fix all of my problems,” said Louisa, her voice wobbling slightly. Lisa kissed her forehead.

“I do and I will,” said Lisa. “But even if I can’t fix it, I can at least make your worry over it go away.”

“I’m not worrying about it,” said Louisa.

“Your horses say otherwise,” said Lisa, smiling.

“Those snitches,” Louisa muttered, though she was glad that they cared enough about her to tell her girlfriend when she was feeling down.

“Tell me what you wanna do, where you wanna go,” said Lisa. “I’ll take you there.”

“I need a distraction,” said Louisa.

“You wanna go see Love Simon?” asked Lisa. Louisa grinned, feeling warmth spread through her.

“Yes,” said Louisa, giving her girlfriend a kiss. Lisa grinned.

“Then let’s hang out here for a bit and then head for the city,” said Lisa. Louisa grinned, leaning against her girlfriend and almost nuzzling her neck as they walked along the beach, leaving their shoes and horses behind them. And, hidden in Louisa’s saddlebag, her phone remained silent, free of notifications. As it had been for a few days now.


	2. An Evening in the City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More floof. Lisa takes her girlfriend into the city for some distractions.

In the end, the two women ended up sitting on a large, sun-warmed rock, their feet dangling in the air as they talked, hands intertwined. Lisa checked the movie times on her phone, Louisa having left her own phone in her bag. Somehow, Lisa knew that it hadn’t been an accident. But she said nothing, just wanting her girlfriend to relax for once.

“Alright, there’s a session in two hours,” said Lisa while Louisa leaned her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder and looked at the screen with her. “Think we can be ready by then?” Louisa nodded.

“I’ve finished training Puzzle for the day and I have nothing else to do, so yeah, I can be ready,” said Louisa. “We’ll just have to swing by Dundull so I can pick up some clothes there.” Lisa nodded, getting to her feet and then helping her girlfriend up. 

“Then let’s go,” said Lisa. She called Starshine, who cantered over with his mate, and Lisa and Louisa mounted their two horses before venturing up the slope and onto the road towards Mistfall. Apparently, there was a jump that they could have taken across the inlet, but Louisa still hadn’t managed to do it. Besides, they didn’t have time for her to shower and change.

“Hey, you’re back,” said Rania, grinning as she heard Louisa and Lisa talking as they entered the Varanger yard.

“Only for a little bit, though,” said Louisa, dismounting Smokeeye and leaving her to hang out with Dellingr. “I’m just getting changed and then I’m heading into the city with my girlfriend.” Lisa smiled and waved and then, seeing Rania’s cloudy eyes, blushed.

“Hello, I’m her girlfriend,” said Lisa, holding her hand out. She looked surprised when Rania shook it.

“I’m Rania, her roommate,” said Rania, smiling.

“Yeah, she’s told me a lot about you,” said Lisa with a chuckle. “And the hijinks that you two have been getting up to.”

“Hey, we’re always safe, aren’t we, Louisa?” said Rania. Louisa laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, we were real safe when we chased a van and confronted GED on our own,” said Louisa. “And when we approached the wolf den and spied on GED and ran full-tilt through a forest that I’d only just come to. But it was fun, nothing quite so dangerous as what I usually do.”

“Yeah, okay, you’ve got a point,” said Lisa, shrugging. Rania shrugged too.

“Anyway, you two can chat if you want while I get changed,” said Louisa, walking through the front door and then to the spare bedroom where she kept her clothes. There, she changed into a pair of jeans, a nice white shirt with glitter gold detailing on it, and a pair of sneakers. She didn’t need any hat and gloves to head into the city, after all.

When she emerged after running a brush through her hair and cleaning her glasses (they got very dirty after training all day), Rania and Lisa were still chatting. Rania seemed to be interrogating Lisa about the adventures that she went on, while Lisa tried to give her the watered-down version of events.

“I’m back,” Louisa announced, closing the door behind her. Rania spun around to face her, her eyes wide.

“You rescued her from a prison?” said Rania, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah,” said Louisa, blushing slightly. “It’s how we met.”

“And then you fell in love,” said Rania with a happy sigh. “Just like my mama and the doc.”

“Truly, the greatest love story ever told,” said Lisa. She looked at her girlfriend, smiling at her appearance. “You ready to go?”

“Yep,” said Louisa, holding her hand out, and the two bid their farewells to Rania and walked down to the bus stop. Starshine and Smokeeye would probably wander through the forest while they waited, having a romantic stroll in the wilderness while their riders were off in the city.

The movie was good, the tears ones of only pure happiness. Louisa only talked about it as they left the theatre, though.

“Wow,” said Louisa, blinking the tears from her eyes. “I read that book once and I was excited when I learned that it was becoming a movie, but I never thought that…” She leaned against her girlfriend, beaming. 

“Now we just need one with a lesbian love story,” said Lisa, squeezing her girlfriend tightly against her. “But I don’t know if they’ll tell our story.”

“Then I’ll write it,” said Louisa. “I’ll become a famous author, and I’ll write our story in such a way that the druids won’t try to silence me, and then I’ll try to get it made into a movie.”

“I hope you do,” said Lisa. “The world deserves to know our story.”

“Or the watered-down version,” said Louisa. “The one that you gave Rania.”

“It’s hard sometimes to tell normal people about what we do,” said Lisa.

“Yeah, but sometimes, the people who know aren’t very nice,” said Louisa. She frowned, hating the way that the problem kept nagging at her mind.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna talk about it?” asked Lisa, looking her girlfriend in the eyes as she held her hand.

“I’m sure,” said Louisa, nodding. “I already have other people to vent to, people who were involved and took my side and people who just let me forget, I just… I want you to distract me.”

“Okay,” said Lisa, giving her a kiss. “That’s okay. What do you wanna do?”

“Anything,” said Louisa. “Anything you wanna do is fine by me.”

“Ditto for me,” said Lisa. “How about laser tag?”

“Hell yes,” said Louisa, her eyes lighting up. Lisa grinned and led Louisa down the footpath, away from the movie theatre of joy and happiness and towards another place of joy and happiness and distractions.

Once inside, Lisa and Louisa were given vests to strap on and padded knee and elbow protectors. All of them were fitted with sensors which would mean a ‘shot’ if the laser hit them. Last of all, Lisa put Louisa’s helmet on, giving her a kiss as she fastened the chin strap. Louisa did the same to Lisa, though their helmets bumped together with an amusing ‘clack’ when Louisa tried to kiss her. They both laughed, then tilted their heads to share another kiss, sweet and lingering.

“Ready?” asked Lisa as they stood outside the doors which read ‘WARNING: LASERS WITHIN’. Louisa took her girlfriend’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“In the immortal words of LMFAO, let’s get ridiculous,” said Louisa, and grinned as she pushed through the swinging doors and ran into the darkened room. She skidded to a stop behind a large, bulky obstacle, and peered around it, holding her laser gun to her chest. She couldn’t see her girlfriend, but she could hear footsteps further into the room. A part of her thought that this would be a great game to play with her friends, but she quickly crushed that part. Another part said that certain people would only ruin this experience with their commentary. Shaking her head, tears blurring her gaze, Louisa ran out from behind the obstacle, looking for her girlfriend. She saw something glowing and, an instant later, the sensor on her knee let out a loud ‘beep’.

“Haha! Gotcha!” Lisa crowed, standing atop an obstacle. Louisa aimed her laser for Lisa’s knee, grinning, and laughed at the ensuing ‘beep’. “Dammit, got too cocky.”

“You said it!” said Louisa. Lisa grinned and leaped down from atop her obstacle, rolling as she landed so that Louisa’s shots missed her completely.

“You’ll never take me alive!” Lisa cried as she ran away from her girlfriend. Louisa laughed, glad that the good feelings had made the unpleasant memories shut up. This really was a good distraction.

“We’ll see about that!” said Louisa, chasing after her. One shot caught Lisa in her vest, and this ‘beep’ was louder than the others.

“Huh, I think the loudness of the ‘beep’ is how deadly the shot was,” said Lisa, looking down at her vest. While she was busy looking, Louisa ‘shot’ her in the head. “Oy!” Louisa laughed.

The two of them continued running around and shooting each other with lasers, the dark room intermittently lighting up with flashes of red and green as they fired at each other.

At last, the game was over, Louisa emerging victorious. She grinned, almost bouncing as she strolled out into the lobby and gave back the equipment.

“You girls have fun?” asked the guy at the counter. Louisa nodded, still grinning.

“I’ve never had so much fun in my life before,” said Louisa. “That was amazing!”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed,” said the man, beginning to wipe down the equipment. “Not many people get out and have fun these days, they’re always cooped up with their computer games. It’s like they’d prefer to shoot each other digitally than in person with lasers.”

“They don’t know what they’re missing out on,” said Lisa. “In fact, I might bring some other friends with me next time I come here.”

“I look forward to seeing you again, then,” said the guy, grinning at them. “You two have a lovely evening.”

“You too,” said Louisa, and left the building with her girlfriend. They stepped out into the cool night air, Louisa snuggling a little closer to her girlfriend. Lisa rolled her eyes and gave a playful sigh.

“Here,” said Lisa, taking off her blue hoodie and giving it to her girlfriend. Louisa grinned.

“Thank you,” said Louisa, pulling it on. “I should’ve brought a jacket with me, huh?”

“Yeah, but then you wouldn’t have been able to borrow mine,” said Lisa, taking Louisa’s hand in her own and swinging their arms as they walked. “Where to now?”

“It’s getting late so we should head back,” said Louisa, checking her watch. “Man, today was long.”

“But it was good in the end, wasn’t it?” Lisa prodded. Louisa nodded, smiling.

“Yeah, it was,” said Louisa. “Just a nice night out with my girlfriend. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

They caught the public transport back to Dundull, where they found their horses waiting for them.

“Rania thought that you might get cold, but she doesn’t possess the ability to talk to horses like you do,” said Smokeeye, looking back at the red saddlebag that she wore on the side of her saddle. “She put a sweater in there, I think it’s one of her own.”

“That girl just cannot take a hint, I swear,” said Louisa. “But I’m glad that she thought of me.”

“Hey, I’m cold too,” said Lisa, rummaging in the saddlebag and pulling out a green knitted sweater that had a pattern of an elk on the front of it. She pulled it on over her head, and Louisa ran her fingers through the ruffled mess that Lisa’s hair became.

“You know, it’s a good thing that we’re warmer now because I heard that the view of the stars from the Peregrine Trail is absolutely beautiful,” said Louisa. “Let’s go up there and take a look?”

“Lead the way,” said Lisa, taking her hand, and Louisa smiled as she let go of Lisa’s hand and mounted Smokeeye.

The ride through the forest was beautiful, if slightly eerie, but for once, Louisa didn’t mind the creepy night noises. She had Lisa by her side, after all, and she felt better now than she had in weeks.

“When you mentioned bringing some other friends to the laser tag, did you mean the other Soul Riders?” asked Louisa once they were far enough away from civilisation that they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Yeah,” said Lisa, nodding. “Alex actually honed her Soul Strike there, so I figure that it’ll be good to go for old time’s sake.”

“And it’s a great distraction,” said Louisa. “I can vouch for that.” Lisa smiled at her, lifting Louisa’s heart even more.

“You were absolutely right,” said Lisa once they’d reached the outlook at the end of the Peregrine Trail. “This is beautiful.” Up here, the stars shone brightly, even though the mist of Mistfall made them look vaguely smeary. It just made them look like they were glowing.

“This view was absolutely worth doing all the work to clear the trail,” said Louisa.

“Most things in Jorvik are worth all the work,” said Lisa. “Like me.” Louisa smiled and dismounted her horse so that they could sit at the barbecue pit and look up at the stars. The cool night breeze whispered through the pines, and, for the first time in weeks, Louisa felt completely and utterly at peace.

“Falling star,” Louisa whispered, seeing the streak of light.

“Yeah, I’ve been called that,” said Lisa with a laugh.

“No, I mean it,” said Louisa, pointing. “There goes another one.” Lisa smiled as she watched the meteor shower begin in earnest, lights streaking across the sky to land hopefully somewhere safe if they landed at all. She’d completely forgotten about tonight’s meteor shower, which had been all that had been mentioned on the news. But sometimes, it was better to forget and then be pleasantly surprised when something happened. Louisa had helped her to forget about what had happened in Pandoria. Now, it was Lisa’s turn to help her girlfriend forget, even if the situation to be forgotten about was considerably less dire.


End file.
